


The Scar

by KateyWlo



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Matoba just being a rebel, Natori's playing with paper, Youkai, random youkai, rip Matoba's right eye, sorry Matoba, youkai attacking Matoba
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:08:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KateyWlo/pseuds/KateyWlo
Summary: At a young age, Matoba Seiji was constantly reprimanded to wear the eyepatch with a seal to ensure that he wasn't attacked by the youkai that tried to take the right eye of the Matoba clan.





	The Scar

**Author's Note:**

> Natori's only mentioned and not really making a big appearance so if you were here for him, then best to turn back now! I wrote this in wondering how he actually got the scar on his right eye, so you know what? Matoba's just a rebellious kid. It was honestly very tempting to just write about how he received the scar by taking charge of his own meal preparation, in other words, Matoba + Knife = Meal?? Nah, you get a scar mate  
> Enough said, this is probably one of the longest fics I've ever written.
> 
> To be honest, I don't think we'll ever get an episode of him receiving the scar so I wrote a fic about it. Hope you enjoy it!

“Matoba, you should really put a sealed eyepatch over your right eye,” Nanase reprimanded for the umpteenth time.

“I’ll be fine,” he replied, also for the millionth time.

“Are you really that confident that you’ll be able to exorcise the youkai that has been hunting your family’s eye for so many years?” she sighed, shaking her head in disbelief at his continuous refusals. She had heard of rebellious teenagers but she wished that he had at least taken his own safety into account… and her concern.

He smiled grimly, his scarlet irises gazing into her dull green orbs. Neither of them spoke a word, the atmosphere growing tense until he turned, taking hold of his wrapped bow and left the household. As he strolled outwards, his fingers subconsciously brushed his right cheek. He could hardly believe that he was wavering at the youkai that hunted male heads of their family. He dismissed the matter with a wave of his hand. It wasn’t that he was confident, and it certainly wasn’t so that he was anxious, but rather… battling the youkai could prove to be an interesting challenge.

As he headed to school, a paper shikigami flew by him, gliding in the direction of the wind. He paused, his hand strangely reaching out for the shikigami which seemingly swept right by him, just barely out of his reach. He hadn’t seen that man in a while. Natori Shuuichi piqued his interest, especially with his decent spiritual powers. The kimono was a scarlet red for him. That proved to be something.

His hair was growing longer and he’d probably be able to tie it a little if it grew out any longer. He could’ve cut it himself with a sharpened arrowhead but it truly felt like too much effort.

-

On his way back home from school, Matoba felt strange, as if something was clutching at his heart. It wasn’t like him to feel this way. He would’ve reached home in less than a minute anyway if he ran but if he were to walk at his current pace, it would probably take 3 minutes.

He paused, seeing a lady kneeling downwards as she staggered over to a park bench. She appeared to be relatively young, she had youthful features but what was strange about her appearance was the strangely pale complexion and silver-grey hair which trailed down her shoulders. As she stumbled over to the park bench, she fell forward, a supporting cane falling from her grasp and landed face first onto the ground. He found it appropriate to laugh in the situation but headed over to her nonetheless. “Miss, are you okay?”

She glanced upwards at him. He flinched. Her eyes were like glass beads, almost like they were fake and impossible to read. “Young man, can you help me up?”

He offered his hand warily as he gazed at her. Her fingers intertwined tightly with his, her nails slightly digging into his skin. As she helped herself up, she inched closer to him, her grasp on his hand getting tighter. She gazed into his scarlet irises, a hand raising upwards as if to brush his cheek. Matoba had no idea what happened, save for the fact that alarm bells were ringing in his head. Before he knew it, his fist had been clenched and he decked her right across the face.

Her head toppled off her shoulders, rolling onto the floor viciously with him kicking her thigh, watching her gruesomely dislocate. She obviously wasn’t normal, in fact, scratch being normal, she was probably a shapeshifting youkai. The head rolled back to the original body, all of the parts instantly combining to form a head with a slightly transparent white trail with human-like arms sticking out from the side. He decided that it was probably the original form of the youkai.

He dodged its attempted blow at him, rolling towards him like a boulder.

“Mato… Matoba…” it groaned as it inched closer towards him. “You promised me your right eye… scum… foolish mortals…”

He withdrew his bow and instantly nocked an arrow onto it, allowing the arrowhead to stab a talisman. He instantly fired the arrow right into the forehead of the youkai but the blow had only enraged the youkai further. It crept towards him, screeching in an inhumane manner which grinded against his ears. Its arm swung forward, knocking him into the hill close by with the bow falling from his grip. Its scrawny arm pinned him against the wall and edged closer, its hand reaching for his right eye. With its hand closing in, it grabbed his cheek and ascended to his iris, prepared to gouge out his right eye. He swung forward with his left arm, audaciously punching the youkai.

“You… punched me again?!” it wailed, its grasp on his body tightening. Its finger grew closer to his eye with him instantly turning his face the other way. Its nail tore at his skin rather than having been able to gouge his eye out. His blood trickled down the finger of the youkai before he took one last blow at the youkai, its grasp finally weakening. He took his bow and arrow, instantly nocking an arrow and firing it, allowing it to glide through the air into the youkai.

Scarlet was beginning to flood into his vision and he could feel his wound burning as he returned back home. He burst the door open, feeling weak as he felt his uniform sticking to his collar, having been matted with blood. Nanase rushed to the entrance, wondering why Matoba was making such a ruckus and gasped at his gruesome wound.

-

Matoba had bandages wrapped around the entirety of his right eye and a large bandaid on his cheek. The doctor that served under the Matoba clan had been speaking to Nanase.

“The wound was shallow, save for the damage on his right eye,” the doctor stated. “Although there was a lot of blood, the wound was shallow but just covered a large amount of his face. They’ll heal but a scar will be left on his right eye. He will definitely have depth perception issues.”

Nanase glanced at Matoba who had been smiling rather ominously. He glanced at her, narrowing his left eye. “Aren’t you going to tell me ‘I told you so’?”

“There is nothing to say now. The damage has already been done,” she stated, rubbing her temples as she felt an incoming migraine.

Matoba chuckled to himself before bursting into a fit of laughter, clenching his fist with his nails digging into his skin. “I’ll personally  _ crush _ that youkai, just watch.”

The youkai’s appearance had been ingrained into his memory and he could feel the resentment building up within him. The youkai was powerful, no doubt, but he’d make sure that he was the one to seal it away. Nanase fell silent at Matoba’s newfound attitude and decided it was best not to say anything that day.

-

When his wound had recovered, Matoba wore the sealed eyepatch as he was instructed to do so. Things were… blurry on his right side, as expected and he did have depth perception problems. He often misjudged the distance between objects and archery practice became somewhat difficult but he was improving again. He had ignored Nanase’s instructions to rest and continued going to school as per normal.

On his way to school, he swore he could’ve seen a familiar head of dusty blond hair. It was blurry but for sure, it was probably him. The familiar hand was raised into the air and a paper plane flew away from their grasp. Slowly, but surely, the plane traversed in the wind’s direction. He reached out his hand, attempting to touch it but rather than sweeping right by him and barely being out of his reach… this time, what stopped him was ambiguous yet measurable distance between himself and that paper plane.


End file.
